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Completed TRL 3 (started at 2, targeting 3)
The objective of this effort is to demonstrate an all-optical analog of the “avalanche photodiode”, creating a photon cascade in an active oscillator seeded by a single-photon input. This will be achieved by developing an injection locking model for a quantum oscillator and then demonstrating proof of concept performance in lab testing.
The product, a room temperature, low noise, high rate, high-efficiency single photon detection system. This result will reduce photodetector SWAP-C for faint-object imaging, optical communications & quantum communications, with intrinsically lower-noise performance than avalanche photodiodes and without the cryocooling required for superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs)
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